Sugar mill hands get a bitter deal

VELLORE: Over 8,000 workers belonging to 11 trade unions attached to the 17 cooperative sugar mills in the State, including the three in Vellore district, struck work on Thursday, seeking a better pay scale, which is on par with government employees.K Manoharan, State General Secretary of the AITUC (Sugar Wing) stated that the strike became imminent, despite the fact that it would affect thousands of farmers since the state government has not yet come forward to address the issues raised by the sugar mill workers. He added that despite several rounds of talks which were held between the trade unions, officials from the Department of Industries and the Directorate of Sugar, an amicable settlement had still not been arrived at. The problems of sugar workers began a decade ago when a section of the employees in the cooperative sector (supervisory, management cadres brought under common category), numbering around 600, were given a pay hike on  par with the government employees. Following this, the trade unions had approached the Court in 2006 to protest against the discrepancy in the salary structure and demaned the same, according to Manoharan.In fact, the trade unions had stalled the operations for six days in the cooperative sugar mills last month. They resumed work when the Sugar Directorate intervened and sought time to sort out the issue. “As nothing concrete has emerged so far, we had to continue our indefinite strike now as talks with the state officials are directionless and every department seems to be passing the buck,” Manoharan pointed out. The strike by the workers may cause a loss of 45,000 quintals of sugar production per day from the cooperative sector. This translates into a loss of `13 crore for the State. Three of the sugar mills in Harur, Cheyyar and Sethiathoppu have gone ahead with the installation of cogeneration facilities to produce electricity to the tune of 15 Mega Watts a day and stalling power production would mean a loss to the electricity board, at a time when the State is reeling under power crisis. “We are aware of the loss and the inconvenience to the farming community, but we have no other option except to strike work to make the State Government listen to our woes,” said Manoharan.  With the crushing season coming to an end this month, the question is whether the government will come up with a quick solution and help the farmers by preventing their sugarcane from rotting, failing which the farmers might also join the agitation.